Prepping a gaming app for funding

Gaming Hours app seeking venture capital

Project management Flow mapping Wireframing Consultancy 🎉 App launched & investment received

  • Client

    GAMING HOURS

  • Industry

    GAMING

  • Service

    UX DESIGN

  • Team Setup

    ME + GRAPHIC DESIGER + DEVELOPER

  • Timeline

    5 months

Context

Building castle based on a paper sketch

Gaming Hours is an app developed by a Hungarian startup with the goal of helping gamers better organize their time and activities so they can always find a partner to play with.

I joined the project when a very basic product version had already been developed, but the process had stalled. Development was based on rough sketches, with unclear user flows and undefined functions.

For the software developer, the lack of clear screen flows was like trying to build a castle from a paper sketch. And since it was a mission impossible, what they ended up with was a ruined house.

And the stakes? Nothing less than securing venture capital investment.

Part of the sketches that I was given.

Set out to build a castle so tall,
With marble-clad towers and gates strong as a wall.
But plans were just sketches, no structure, no guide.
And so, your grand vision crumbled inside.
A castle once dreamed, now ruin so bare.
A monument lost to neglect and despair.

Challenge

The unrecognized complexity

I was brought in to bring order to the chaos. Soon, I realized that the chaos stemmed not only from the hard-to-understand screen sketches but also from the fact that the stakeholders were unaware of the complexity of their envisioned product.

This complexity stemmed from the app’s goal of giving users extensive control over the visibility of the gaming events they created, which required numerous well-designed screen states. The main work began by mapping out the different scenarios of gaming event creation.

This helped the stakeholders rethink their timeline and allocate development resources more effectively.

Flowchart for event creation process with colored nodes and text boxes on a grid background.

Scenarios of gaming event creation

My contribution

Unbundling the app type

After developing a strong understanding of the product's complexity—both for myself and the team—it became easier to categorize the app. Recognizing that it was a highly complex and structured system helped guide key design decisions, such as selecting the most suitable navigation pattern.

By understanding the app's nature, we could ensure that the information architecture supported clarity.

A 2x2 matrix diagram categorizing workflows by structure and complexity. Top left: 'Utility (Single Use Case)' - simple + structured (e.g., Uber). Top right: 'Process' - complex + structured (e.g., Insurance app). Bottom left: 'Consumption' - simple + random (e.g., Facebook). Bottom right: 'E-Commerce' - complex + random (e.g., Amazon). Y-axis: Structure of the workflow (random to structured). X-axis: Complexity of the workflow (simple to complex).

App categorisation matrix

My contribution

Crafting blueprint for the castle

When moving to the screen level, although I could have created high-fidelity screens, it would have taken considerable time without adding much additional value compared to a low-or medium-fidelity version. The team needed to understand the structure of the house and the flows within, not its aesthetics.

So, I progressed with non-pixel-perfect low- and medium-fidelity wireframes, focusing on making them as clear as possible.

I used detailed, annotated screens and well-defined flows to ensure clarity.

Flowchart depicting friend request handling process with smartphone screenshots and decision points on accepting or declining friend requests.

Annotated screen flows

Outcome

From a ruined house to a castle

With my contribution, the developer got a proper blueprint, which served them as a support to build the castle on the basis of the ruined house.

As a result of my involvement, the development and graphic design work got new momentum since by the end the whole team had a clear understanding of the product and its functions.

With this, we managed to build an MVP that got the venture capital and the app was soon lauched in the PlayStore.